If you’ve not heard of The Pigeonhole, this is what all of that means.

The Pigeonhole is an app that you download to your phone (Android and Apple versions are available). Via the app you get access to a range of books to read for free. There are two main categories of books: new releases/premieres which are being previewed via The Pigeonhole, and which are available for a limited time only, and classics, which are available permanently.

The app releases a portion of the book in question every day (the app calls them “staves”, as a nod to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which uses the same word to divide its events). So, East of England will be made available in ten daily staves beginning January 4th. This gives the reader a handy daily chunk of the book ideal for commuting, lunch breaks, whiling away a spare half hour in a coffee shop, as a bedtime read and so on.

The app’s interactive, so readers are encouraged to comment on their reading as they go, chat with other app users, and generally make the book a social experience. All of this is entirely optional, by the way; you can either just read the book, or chat with others about it, or go on and write reviews and post them online. It’s up to you.

What’s in it for me as the writer? Well, it’s all about word of mouth, and about hopefully getting folk interested in East of England, having some reviews generated, and most importantly, getting reader feedback in more-or-less real time. I’ll be reading the book along with everyone who’s signed up to sample the book, and will do my best to answer questions along the way!

You can sign up at any time (the sooner the better really, as spaces will be limited to some degree) and the book will be on the site for a month after its release, so don’t think you have to keep up with the daily chunks if life gets in the way.